Bettelheim gives a false doctrine when he said that love alone is not enough.
From the view of former home- and foster children there is no necessary to 'blind' potential foster parents. The most important element for child's development is love. Therefore nobody need expert knowledge. With expert knowledge we build up a facade and then often forget the fundamental needs for children such as identification, emotions, sexuality, own interests-fields, status and territorial sovereignty. The parents are the main-examples for their children. Experts or employees are not demanded but people as examples and this 'around the clock'. Who believes that somebody can offer someone much more than others don't offers at least anybody specialties. In child education there exists no panacea. It's enough to have one constant parent person. This person is as important as food and warmth.
In our bureaucratic system foster parents were often asked for their interests to get a foster child. But why were foster parents other motifs imputed in child procreation and education than biological parents? Our youth welfare offices would have much to do if they wanted to check all standards which they set to potential foster parents to the biological parents. As long as both parents exists, no office is interested in their children. The biological parents have 'jester's license'. It's sufficiently enough known that also in families luck and bad luck of children could be close together. Therefore also foster parents should have 'jester's license'.
Social workers of youth welfare offices are primarily only office workers in 'objects of children affairs'. Social workers are part of our bureaucratic order, where child welfare seems to have no place. Social workers are grown up in more or less happily and lovely childhood of those they hardly couldn't remember. Love is part of human emotions and hardly not part of intellectual faculty. Social workers react mostly only with their mind. They are seeming 'workers' with much expert knowledge but without heart. The older they will be the more hard their heart. Young social workers may 'break their heart' but each job becomes routine. A job makes hardened, furthers organizational myopia, makes coldness - properties which are foreign for the world of child and are exactly the opposite: a child is emotional, sensible, spontaneous - characteristics which office workers contempt. They want have that children are adaptable, are able to learn, obey implicitly, aren't hot-tempered. A child defined like a 'ready-made suit' as unfeeling, sexless and uninterested person. That's why I claim: put down your superficial knowledge, accept the often naive asked motifs of potential foster parents and believe in love.
The author took part till his 7th year at mother's love, had a very bad time like in a tyranny in an orphanage over six years, could 'enjoy' over six years with foster parents, who makes possible my further qualification at school and afterwards I could study successfully at the university. Now I've very long job experience and a long distance from my childhood trauma. I analyzed with sociological and psychological knowledge the office workers jester's license. For further information of my studies you can order my first German book:
Kinder in geschlossenen Einrichtungen
Gefühls- und geschlechtslose Wesen
published by R.G. Fischer company
2nd Edition 1994
ISBN 3-89501-043-X
With best regards and my wish to identify and put an end to bureaucratic nonsense.
Wenz Flash